Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-27

mandiDg. Tnere Is tae chesapeake,
commanded by Captain Lawrence, whose
dying words were: "Don't give I'D the
ships" and the Niagara, of 1912, COM
manded by Commodore Perry, who wrote
on the back OF an old letter, resting on
his navy cap; 1--WE have met the enemy
and they are ours" Yonder is the flag
ship Wabash, Admiral Dupont command
ing; yonder, the flagship Minnesota, Adj
mlral Goldsborough commanding; Won
der, the flagship Philadelphia, Admiral
Dahlgren commanding; yonder, the
flagship San Jacinto, Admiral Bailey COM
handing; yonder, the flagship Black
( Hawk, Admiral Porter commanding;
yonder, the flag steamer Benton, Admiral
FOOte commanding; YOnder, the flagship
Hartford, David GlasCoe Farragut COM
handing. And now all the squadrons
of all departments, from smallest tug
boat TO mightiest man-of-war, are in pro
ceSsiOn. decks and rigging filed with the
men who fought on the sea for the old
flag ever since we were 8 nation. Grand
est fleet the world ever saw. Sail on be-
fore all ages Run up all the colors,
Ring all the bells! Yea, open alI the
portfolios! Unlimber the guns and load
and fire one great broadside that shall
shake the continents in honor of peace
and the eternity of
THE AMERICAN UNION!
But l lift my hard and the scene has
vanished. Many Of the ships have dropped
under the crystal pavement of the deep,
sea monsters swimming in and out the
torsaken cabin, and other old craft have
swung into the navy Yards, and many of
the brave spirits who trod their decks are
gone up to the Eternal Fortress. from
whose easements and emOrasures may we
not hope they look down to-day with Joy
upon nation in reunited brotherhood
At this annual COmmemoratioR l be-
think that most of you who were in the
naval service during our late war are
now in the afternoon or evening of life.
With some of you 1t is . o'clock, .
O'Clock, O'Clock, 6 O'Clock, and it will
soon be sundown. If you were of age
when .he war broke out you are now at
least forty weight. Many of you have
passed into the sixties and the seventies
therefore it is appropriate that hold two
great lights for your illumination-the
example of Christian admirsls cOnse-
Grated to Christ and their country, Adj
miral FOote and Admiral Farragut. Had
the Christian religion been a coWardly
thing they would have had nothing to do
with it. In its faith they lived and died. In
our Brooklyn navyyard Admiral FoOte
held prayer meetings and con-
Quoted 8 revival on the receiving
ship North Carolina, and on Sab
baths, far out ct sea, followed the chap
lain with religious eXhOrtatiOn. In early
life on board the sloop of war Natchez,
/ impressed by the words of a Christian
/ sailor, he gave his spsTe time for TWO
weeks to the Bible, snd at the end of that
declared openly. "HencefOrth, under all
circumstances, l will act iGr God" Ills
last words, while dying at the Astof
House, New York, were: 'I thank Goo
for all His goodness to me. He has been
very good to me-" When he entered
heaven he did not have to run q blockade,
for il was amid the cheers of g great well
come. The other Christian admiral will
be honored until the day when the fires
from above shall lick up the waters from
beneath and there shall be nc more sea.
son, while old oceans breast
Bears q white sail
And Gods soft stars to rest
Guide through the gale,
Men viii him neer forget
Old heart of oak,
FarTagut, FarraEut
ThunderbOlt stroke ~
According to his own statement, Farra-
-
manhood and practiced all kinds of sin.
One day he was called into the cabin of
his father, who was g shipmaster. His
father said "Dsvid, what are you going
to be, anyhow" f'He answered: 81 am
going to follow the sea-" ''FolloW the
sea, said the father, ''and be kicked
about the world and die in q foreign hos
pital?" "No," said David" 81 an 60
ing to command like you" ono" said
the father, ga boy of your habits will never
command anything" and his father burst
into tears and left the cabin. From that
day David Fsrragut
STARTED ON A NEW LIFE.
Captain Pennington, an hOnored elder
of this church, was with him in most
of his battles and had his init
mate friendship, and he confirms, what [
had heard elsewhere, that Farragut was
good and Christian. In every great
crisis of life he asked and obtained the
Divine direction. When in Mobile bay
the monitor Tecumseh sank from tor
pedo and the great waTship Brooklyn
that was to lead the squadron turned
back, he said he was at d loss to know
whether TO advance or TO retreat, and ne
says: 81 prayed, 'Oh, God, who created
man and gave him reason, direct me what
to do. Shall go on?' And voice COM
handed me, go on and went on"
Was there ever more touching Christian
letter than that which he wrote to mis-
wife from his flagship Hartford? "My
dearest wife, write and leave this letter
for you. l am going into Mobile bay IN
the morning, if God is my leader, and 1
hope He is, and in him 1 place my trust.
II he thinks it is the proper place for me
to die l am ready to submit to His will
in that as IN all other things. God bless
and preserve you, my darling,
and my dear boy, if anything should
happen to me, may His blessings rest
upon you and your dear mother, and all
your sisters and their children"
Cheerful to the end, he said on board
the Tallspoosa in the last voyage he ever
took: "It would be well if l died now in
harness" The sublime Episcopal service
for the dead was never more appropriately
read than over his casket, and well did
ell the forts of New York harbOr thunder
as his body was brought TO our wharf,
and well did the minute guns sound and
the bells toll as in a procession having in
its ranks the President of the United
States and Eis cabinet, and the mighty
men of land and sea, the old admiral was
carried amid hundreds of thousands of
uncovered heads on Broadway and laid
on his pillow of dust in beautiful Wood
lawn, September 80, amid the pomp Of
our autumnal forests.
Ye veterans who sailed and fought IN
der him, take your admiraPs God and
Christ for your God and Christ. After a
tn lS1Ar,